The Louisiana Public Service Commission (“LPSC”) and the State Legislature are conflicted over regulation of motor carriers of waste in Louisiana. While the Louisiana Constitution grants the LPSC the authority to regulate common carriers, and the LPSC oversees the certification and permitting of such carriers, in the 2017 Regular Session the Legislature enacted Senate Bill 50 (Act 278) that changes the statutory requirements for a carrier to become an approved motor carrier of waste in the State. Act 278 was signed into law by Governor Edwards on June 15, 2017.

Under the LPSC rules, carriers of waste must prove “public convenience and necessity,” which requires contracts with shippers for contract carrier permits and testimony or affidavits from shippers for common carrier certificates, in support of need for the requested new or expanded authority. An applicant also must prove fitness to operate.

However, Legislative Act 278 eliminates the requirement to prove “public convenience and necessity” to obtain authority from the LPSC to operate as a common or contract carrier of waste within the state. An applicant only must prove fitness to operate.

At the LPSC’s Business & Executive Session last month, there was much discussion regarding whether the new legislation is an unconstitutional infringement on the jurisdiction of the LPSC over common carriers. Ultimately, the LPSC directed its Staff to file suit challenging Act 278 and to take all action necessary to protect the LPSC’s jurisdiction.

At the same meeting, the Commissioners also considered but declined to adopt new rules for obtaining authority to haul waste within Louisiana. The LPSC Staff’s proposed rules would have set forth guidelines for certification of common and contract carriers and created a rebuttal presumption that granting the certificate was in the public interest if the applicant met the application requirements. While considered to be an improvement over current LPSC rules, the Staff’s proposed rules still required applicants to prove “public convenience and necessity,” including having shippers provide affidavits in support of the need for the certificate.

The LPSC Commissioners disagreed over whether the Staff’s proposed new rules went far enough to change the standard for obtaining authority to haul waste within the state. One Commissioner offered a motion to approve the Staff proposal, supporting it as an industry solution developed with stakeholders in the trucking business. Another Commissioner argued extensively in favor of opening up the market for hauling waste in Louisiana and urged as a substitute motion that the LPSC adopt new rules based on the Legislative Act 278, which would eliminate the “public convenience and necessity” requirement. Both motions failed 2-2.

While the LPSC Staff’s proposed rules were not adopted by the LPSC in June, it is expected that there will be additional discussion of changes to the rules, and that the constitutional issues raised by Act 278 will be pursued by the LPSC in the courts.